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Friday, April 30, 2010

May Allah take away from you all that which takes you away from Him!

Encountering friends faced with calamity often prompts me to share how tribulations enabled me to submit to Allah, igniting my love for Him. I learnt how they are both nourishing and necessary for those who truly seek to purify and liberate the mind, body and soul.

Deciding to try never to complain was a decision that changed my relationship with God, family, friends and the world. Allah says in the Quran, “Whatever misfortune befalls you, is a consequence of your own deeds. But much of it He forgives” (42:30). Elaborating on the same, Prophet Mohammad(PBUH) said, “The believer is not afflicted with illness or hardship even if it be worry that troubles him or a thorn that pricks him, except that his sins would be expiated as a result of it”.

Calamities come for a deep wisdom, with hidden benefits and blessings. They remove the delusion that we are in complete control of our lives, helping to realise Qudrah, power of Lordship. The Quran confirms, “Should Allah touch you with affliction, there is none to remove it but He; and should He touch you with good, He has the power to do everything.” (6:17).

A troubled soul can be numbed temporarily, but its anguish cannot be removed without submission to the Creator. Afflictions are often opportunities to gain blessings by submission and closeness to God. Exercising patience in the midst of calamity while waiting for a fatah, opening from God, becomes a high form of ibadah, worship. A theme that runs through the Quran is, “…Allah loves those who exercise patience”.

Allah tells us never to despair from His rahmah, mercy, for, “Indeed there is ease with hardship. Most certainly, there is ease with hardship” (94:5,6).

The true lovers of God pray for afiyah, well-being and forgiveness, submit to Him, remaining content with whatever God decides for them.

I love this prayer of the 8th century woman mystic Rabia Basri, “May Allah take away from you all that which takes you away from Him”.


From Sadia Dehlvi's inspiring, soothing and pleasant writeup in The Asian Age.
To read the full article click here.

Sadia Dehlvi is a Delhi-based writer and author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam. She can be contacted at sadiafeedback@gmail.com

1 comment:

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